Boat-Brewing: Brewing Beer on a Boat

The goal of this amateur short guide is
not about how to brew beer. The goal is to focus on how to keep your
costs low, the equipment small and your water usage to an absolute
minimum. If you want a better overview on the brewing process I
suggest you start with How
To Brew a fantastic website which covers a range of topics and he
has a free ebook. Also visit Brew Your Own
and there are many You Tube instructional videos about brewing for
more help. For more advanced information try Beer:
Tap into The Art and Science of Brewing an excellent book.

Most boaters first question when I tell
them about "boatbrewing" is, what does it cost? Normally this isn't
the right question to ask however in many parts of the world beer can
be expensive and making it yourself can be cost effective. This
isn't normally the case. Very cheaply made beer from extract only
techniques will probably run you about $40 per 5 gallons or 50
bottles. That's about $0.90 per beer not including the initial setup
costs which our bare-bones setup is about $70. Upgrade to adding
grains, hops and some other additives and you're probably looking at
about $60 or about $1.10 a bottle. This cost is not bad if decent
beer in the store runs over $10 a six-pack.

Deviations From The Mean

The main differences with this “Boat
Method” is mostly in the cleaning techniques and bottling. In
standard brewing recipes often a second fermenter and a bottling
bucket with a raking cane is used. All of this is avoided in this
method. The spigot on the fermenter eliminates the raking cane and
the need for siphoning. Second fermentation is an extra step that
isn't required and on a boat this would probably be hard to transfer
the beer into the second container, not to mention you'll need
another large container taking up space.

When bottling priming is done in the
fermenter (or added to each bottle), the fermenter spigot is used to
fill each bottle avoiding the need to siphon and a raking cane.

These few items aside, all the basic
brewing instructions apply as normal.

Complications: Space, Water, Cost,
Temperature

Space

Unlike most home brewers space
restrictions are much more complicated on a boat. Unfortunately it
takes about the same amount of work to brew 1 gallon of beer as it
does to brew 5 gallons. So while we started with 1 gallon batches
and small equipment, we quickly realized the trade off for size was
not worth the effort. Anything less than about 3 gallons is a lot of
work for a little bit of beer. At a minimum I suggest you make space
for a 5 gallon bucket, 16 Qt. (4 gallon) pot and about 50 beer
bottles. If you spend some time shopping around you can find a
cooking pot that will nest inside or outside the bucket for tighter
storage.

A 5 gallon fermentation bucket (the
Home Depot Style – but look for the food grade version) means you
can make about 4.5 gallons maximum of beer, and a 4 gallon pot means
you can only cook about 3.5 gallons maximum. It is very common to
cook a small amount of beer, say 2-3 gallons and then add water that
you've sterilized by boiling and allowing to cool in the fermenter to
get the quantity of desired beer. An 7-8 gallon
fermenter is required to brew 5+ gallon batches. If
you choose to go with a 4 gallon brew size (5 gallon fermenter) you
can still use the 5 gallon brew kits that are everywhere, you'll just
have a bit stronger beer in the end. If
you put too much in your fermenter be careful the krausen (yeast
related gunk) doesn't foam up into the airlock. If it does you'll
need to switch to a blow-off tube. (See the How To Brew
website/book.)

Water

Also unlike most home brewers boat
brewers will have to employ different cleaning techniques to keep
water use to a minimum. There are two key pieces of equipment that
can help you do this: a spray bottle and a pressure sprayer.

The 1/2 gallon
sprayer allows you to clean large areas and inside bottles using very
little water. A little bleach should be added to aid in sterilizing.
On a boat the sprayer can also serve double duty as a shower or a
quick and portable way to rinse and clean things.

The small spray bottle should be used
during the second round of cleaning using a no-rise type cleaner like
StarSan. This small spray bottle will be used throughout the cooking
and cooling and bottling process to maintain a sterile environment
with very little water required. See the section “Before You
Start” on cleaning for more details.

Cost

Cost is especially important on a boat
because often you can not mail-order supplies when you need them.
You'll want ingredients you can store for a long time yet are still
flavorful when you need them. So let's over the 3 basic brewing
options from least cost and space to most cost and space.

All Extract: Many good beers can
be made from extracts. However if you're picky about your beer
you'll find the flavor may be lacking. The big benefits of extract
brewing is it is very compact, lowest cost and will store for a long
time. Don't be fooled into thinking you can't make great
extract-only beer, many win contests all the time. And there are
many good kits out there that make brewing quicker and easier. I
highly suggest starting with an all-extract kit and some fresh
yeast. (See the How To Brew
website for a great first-time brew recipe and walk through.)

Partial Mash: A good compromise
between all extract and all grain brewing. This combines both
extracts and grains (via the mash). This produces good fresh
flavors that are more complex than possible with straight extract
brewing. The downside is you'll need to store grains and for
longevity you need to keep them uncracked. When you are ready to
use those grains you'll need a way to crack them (not grind or
pulverize!). This requires more equipment and some extra brewing
steps.

All Grain: This is a more
advanced technique that allows you to produce full flavored beers of
a wide range. This method takes up more space and also requires a
way for you to crack the grains.

Temperature

Very few boats offer a controlled
temperature for fermenting beer. This means you're a bit limited by
what you can brew. Normal ale fermentation temperatures range from
68 to 72 °F (20 to 22 °C) and lagers (most common brand name
commercial beers are lagers) fermentation temperatures from 45 to 55
°F (7 to 13 °C). Also keep in mind that the heat generated by an
active fermentation can warm a typical 5-gallon (19-L) batch of beer
by 4 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit (~3 degrees Celsius). We have
successfully brewed IPA's in 85 °F tropical weather, however you
have to expect there will be some flavor changes. Fermenting above
the normal temperature range may produce excessive fruity-flavored
esters or harsh-flavored fusel alcohols.

Strong hops for IPA's and Porters can
often mask these byproducts quite well, but perfection will be hard
to achieve. And don't expect to be able to make lagers in the
tropics without some kind of proven cooling method. Lagers also take
longer to ferment and process, so ales are probably a better choice
anyway. A large water tub can be used to stabilize the fermentation
temperature by filling it with cooler sea water and placing the
fermenter in it or you could use an evaporation method. (See
“Improving your brew” for more tips.) But remember to keep the
fermenter in a dark place.

The Gear

Many home brewers will cringe at this
setup but this is the most compact and efficient setup we've come up
with. It involves a stainless brew pot for cooking the beer (called
Wort), and a single 5 gallon bucket that acts as both the fermenting
and bottling bucket.

This setup is primarily for doing
Partial Mash brewing where the grains are steeped in a bag (like tea)
along with the extracts. In this photo you can see the white 5
gallon food safe bucket on the left and the lid with a nice tight
gasket on the right and hole for the airlock. Also near the lid is
the plastic airlock with rubber bung and the light aqua spigot (which
will be installed 3” from the bottom on the fermenting bucket).
The stainless pan is 16 Qt. and fits nicely inside the 5 gallon
bucket for storage.

On the stove clockwise from the lower
left is the hand mill which we use to crack grains (not all parts are
visible), above it is the small bottle of Star San cleaner and the
milling wheels in a plastic bag. The small pot is used for boiling
water to remove any chlorine and kill any bacteria. This water will
be used for pitching the yeast and perhaps adding to the beer when it
is ready to ferment. Below that is a plastic spoon (don't use wood
it is too hard to sterilize), a thermometer and the white mashing bag
for holding the cracked grains.

If you want to simplify this with all
extract brewing you won't need a way to crack the grains or the mash
bag. Here's a photo of the wort in progress.

Breakdown of Costs

Some of these items we had to shop
around quite a bit to find. A 16 Qt. stainless pot is a good size
but if you can get a bigger one to fit on your boat then try it.
You can also get by with aluminum or a standard enamel “canning
pot” if you're in a pinch. Lots of third world countries seem to
have a surplus of large aluminum pots. The life span of
non-stainless pots when exposed to sea air or salt water will
naturally be shorter. The basic kit will probably run about $70
(including shipping, etc.).

If you don't want to know the alcohol
content or the fermentation progress of your beer you can skip the
Hydrometer, but it is a nice tool to have once you start doing more
batches. It is used for checking the fermenting progress, which on a
boat in a hot climate it is best to bottle as soon as the primary
fermenting is complete. Of course the first thing everyone asks when
they try your beer is, “How strong is it?” Without a hydrometer
you just have to make a guess.

Brew supply stores often have plastic
fermentation buckets and if you have space, then get an 7-8 gallon
one so you can make bigger batches. This will probably run you about
$20 to $25.

Options:

Upgrade to an 8 gallon bucket w/
airlock and spigot for bigger batches.

Many boaters have a hand held
Infra-Red (IR) temperature meter (often with a laser too). These
are ideal for beer brewing as you can monitor temperatures without
touching (contaminating) anything.

Before You Start

Clean everything. Then clean it again.
Remove any grime or bits that are visible because they can harbor
bacteria that sterilizers can not reach. Clean the walls, ceiling,
floor, counter tops, dish racks, sinks, drawer handles, fans,
everything. Keep dust, pet hair, sneezes and even breathing to a
minimum to prevent exposure. Think of your galley as a surgical room
and your beer as a brain surgery patient. Don't pickup something
that hasn't been sterilized then grab your thermometer to make
another temperature check. Keep things sterile as you go with the
little spray bottle. Give surfaces a light spray once in a while to
keep them sterile. There are a thousand things that would love to
eat your beer before your yeast does, so don't give them a chance.

Brewing Tricks

If you are doing partial mashes instead
of a mash bag you can just by a yard of bridal veil material. Cut
this down so you can line the inside of your pot with about 10 inches
of excess at the top. This will act like a giant tea bag that you'll
put the grains in and close the top with some string. When you are
done with steeping the grains, you can just lift the bag out and pour
some cold sterile water through it (called sparging) and then dispose
of the grains. This material is finer than the mesh bags we've seen
and having a big sized piece of it makes sure nothing gets spilled
and is easily and cleanly removed from the pot.

Cooling Tricks

The faster you cool the beer (wort) the
less likely it will be exposed to bacteria and you will remove some
proteins that can cause hazy beer when bottled and chilled. However
on a boat, access to ice isn't often possible. You can use a water
bath (even with 85ºF water) to bring the temperature down faster or add water that you
previously boiled and let cool earlier to make the volume of beer you
want to ferment.

If you can use ice! If you have access
to purified ice, and you know it is purified, you can use this to
cool your beer (wort) and at the same time dilute the wort to the
proper amount. 7 pounds of ice is equal to 1 gallon of water. So if
you have cooked 3 gallons, add 7 pounds of ice to round it out to 4
gallons and help cool the wort faster. If it isn't purified, clean,
and handled properly you will ruin your batch of beer. This can be a
great time saver on a boat, especially in the hot tropics where
cooling things down takes a long time.

If you're not sure of the ice's
purity, then don't add it directly to your wort. Make an ice bath with it and
only add purified chlorine free water directly
to your wort. You
can also salt your ice bath (or use salt water !) to help reduce the
temperature of the wort faster. Some people freeze plastic bottles
of ice water and use them in the ice bath, but on a boat few of us
have freezers and even fewer have extra space in them.

Bottling Tips

Use the pressure sprayer and a bottle
brush to clean the used beer bottles. Get them super clean and then
sterilize them using the small spray bottle and the no rinse cleaner.
Clean them inside and out and give them plenty of time to drain and
dry. Don't forget to sterilize everything including the bottle caps,
the bottle capper, and all the surfaces.

Also shown in this photo is the priming
sugar in the measuring cup. We carefully mix this into the fermenter
prior to bottling. Don't stir up the yeast that has settled to the
bottom. Don't stir in any extra oxygen while mixing it in and make
sure you mix it well so the sugar is evenly distributed. This step
is normally where home brewers would move to a “bottling bucket”.
However for our space constrained lives, this is an unnecessary step
and using the spigot on the fermenter you can go directly to the
bottles once you've primed it.

Some brewers prefer to put the primer
into each bottle. It is hard to know how many bottles you'll fill
and it is complicated to get the amount equal in every bottle.
However with a dropper and a good estimate of the volume of beer you
could easily make this method work without worrying about stirring
the yeast or introducing oxygen.

Advanced Planning Helps

Cooking the beer takes at least an
hour on high and can use a fair bit of propane. Make sure you are
somewhere where you can buy more.

Obviously it gets quite hot in the
boat while cooking. You might want to wait for a cool day or for a
time when you are alone on the boat.

After the cook is done and cooling
you have to be careful not expose any thing including your beer to
something unsterilized. Since this is in the middle of your living
space waiting for it to cool and working around it can be difficult.
You might want to prepare lunch before you start brewing so you
don't disrupt the process. You don't want strong breezes or fans
blowing air over your exposed wort either.

It is best to be in a calm
anchorage to avoid spills and allow the yeast to settle out of the
beer better.

When saving empty bottles for your
boatbrew, rinse them out well directly after drinking them (salt
water is fine then rinse with fresh), dry them and store them in plastic bags so they
don't collect dust. This will make bottling day much easier when
you go to sterilize them and clean them out. If you are inheriting
old bottles, scrub them out well with a bottle bush. Hold them up to the sun and examine them for
particles, you might be surprised at how things collect inside.
Clean them well now. Then rinse and sterilze them on bottling day.

Improving Your Brew

Once you get the hang of brewing on the
boat here are some things to think about to improve your process.

Controlling the fermentation
temperature. This is probably the hardest thing on a boat, but
if you find a place with cooler sea water, or with cool fresh water
run off use it to create a bath for your fermentor. Some people have
had luck with making an evaporation type system with just a fan and
some thin we tee-shirts. The happier you keep the yeast the better
it will work to improve your beer.

Have Patience. Allow
fermentation to complete then wait a few more days. The only caveat
here is if the temperature is not near the yeast's ideal fermenting
temperature. If the temperature is off significantly then it is best
to not wait too long in the fermenter. After bottling allow it to
chill undisturbed for at least two weeks so suspended particles fall
to the bottom. Like a good soup or pasta sauce, give the flavors a
chance to mingle and mellow.

Chilling the Wort. A wort
chiller can really help improve flavor. If you're still at the stage
where you're doing partial boils of extract recipes, this isn't quite
necessary. You can fill a sink/tub with ice-cold water, set the
brew pot into it, and gently stir the wort. A typical 3 gallon boils
cool down to 75F in about 20 minutes using this method which is
pretty efficient. There are more complex wort chillers but these
often don't work well on a boat. Also as mentioned earlier purified
ice that has been properly handled can be added directly to the wort.
A wort chiller has several advantages:

Better cold break
(group
of proteins that need to be thermally shocked into precipitating out
of the wort preventing
“Cold Haze”)

Less chance for unwanted organisms
to contaminate the wort

Minimizes the time wort is in the
Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS) producing temperature range (corn
aroma/taste)

Better retention of hop aromatics and flavor

Document it. Write down
everything you do. Don't kid yourself into thinking "I don't
have to write this down, I'll remember", because you won't
remember. The better you are about this, the easier it will be to do
things repeatably. What temperature did you mash at? What was the
pre/post boil gravity, What was the pre/post boil volume. When did
the hops go in? How long did chilling the wort take? What was the
gravity after X days of fermentation? If you hit upon a beer you
really enjoy, you'll want to repeat your process.

Try All Grain. Fresh
ingredients and all grain brews can generate much more powerful
flavors. There's really no substitute, however all-grain brewing on
the boat requires more storage space for the grains and equipment to
crack them. The upside is tasty beer.

Better Caps. Oxygen absorbing
bottle caps help preserve the flavor and improve storage time for
beer. They cost a little more but they might be worth it. We
haven't tried them.